THE weather gods finally smiled on HRP Lochgelly Raceway as drivers, teams and a huge number of fans gathered at HRP Lochgelly Raceway this past Saturday for a very special event.

The time had come for the annual Caravan Demolition Derby plus the opportunity to see some of the personalities from the British Touring Car Championship taking some time out of their comfort zone to take part in a special race on the short oval.

The Junior Productions were first on track for another series of demonstration races with the usual suspects on track.

Amber Tyrell and Chelsey-Lee Kirton had been on track earlier in the week at Tuesday’s open practice and both showed that they were getting to grips with the fast and furious nature of oval racing but the more experienced Cameron Willacy came through to take victory in both heats.

With the handicap of starting further down the grid, it looked like Cameron Willacy would have more of a challenge on his hands if he was to take a hat-trick of victories.

Indeed, Chelsey-Lee Kirton in particular surged into a big lead while Willacy worked on overhauling Amber Tyrell before setting off in pursuit. Even as the last lap board came out, Chelsea still held a reasonable lead over Cameron but, unfortunately for Chelsea, her car went wide in the last corner which allowed Cameron to nip through on the inside for the win. Much more to come from the Juniors in the future no doubt!

The CC Rods were the next formula on track with another big entry of cars. The first heat was halted following a nasty crash for Kirkcaldy’s Kevin Hutchison who hit the wall hard on his own and we wish him well in his recovery.

Following the restart of the race, Colin Wotherspoon managed to get into the lead but was adjudged by the steward to have been heavy-handed which saw him and Stewart Aitken swap places on the podium giving Aitken his second win of 2017 after taking the feature final 8 days earlier on his return to the formula.

Heat Two was another fast and action-packed race but none of the drivers had an answer for lone white top Lee Scott who led from flag to flag as the rest of the pack battled behind him for his first win in the formula.

The feature final saw Scott shoot into the lead once more but the drivers further down the grid had the bit between their teeth this time with the likes of Aitken, Wotherspoon, Jamie Brown and Ian Hotchkies looking very racy from the blue grade.

Indeed, the flying blue tops soon overhauled Scott and it was Wotherspoon who went on to claim the win he may well feel he was denied in heat one as he took the final winner’s trophy ahead of Aitken and Hotchkies. ITV Sport’s David Addison certainly enjoyed HRP’s low budget class as he commented after the event that they were “excellent fun” and he was also impressed with the relative low costs of the class.

The 1300 Stock Cars were next on track as, unusually, the bumper boys were not the final formula on track – the reason for that will become apparent later in this report!

Heat One saw Scottish Champion Dean McGill carve his way through the chaos to a useful lead before mechanical issues forced the driver who will defend his Scottish title in just over 2 weeks to retire for the rest of the night. Ironically, this handed victory to big brother Lee McGill who scooped the win ahead of Craig Haxton and James Ellis.

Ellis certainly looked up for the battle in the dry conditions and, as the top drivers got stuck in against each other in heat two, it was Ellis who came through to take what may be his first win from red grade after a fantastic start to his racing career with Lochgelly’s Billy Wilson and Craig Haxton completing the top three in a race punctuated by a yellow flag as heat one winner Lee McGill made contact with the fence to bring the race to a halt.

The feature final was another brilliant race with the bumpers flying in at every corner as the large crowd enjoyed every moment of another thrilling race from the 1300 Stock Cars but it was that man Ellis who came through from the back of the red grade to claim a fantastic heat and final winning double.

The reason for the 1300 Stock Cars not taking their usual place as the last formula on track was to allow for a special race which was held just before the Caravan Destruction Derby.

With some of the BTCC drivers, teams and fans in attendance; a social media campaign saw Ant Whorton-Eales, Ollie Jackson and Shaun Hollamby from the British Touring Car Championship take to the track with some of the HRP regulars for a special exhibition race. All three acquitted themselves brilliantly with Whorton-Eales in particular using the bumper to full effect but it was 1300 stalwart Billy Wilson who didn’t read the script that Shaun Hollamby had written after leading for the majority of the race when he sneaked through in the closing stages for the win!!!

The Stock Rods returned to HRP Lochgelly Raceway after another very successful raid south the weekend before which saw Siobhan Martin claim her first major international title as she stormed to a brilliant win in the National Championship. Siobhan was on track along with 18 other Stock Rod racers including visiting interest in the form of star driver James Morris and the 2016 British Champion Bobbie Johnston ahead of the defence of his title here at HRP Lochgelly Raceway on September 23 and 24 sponsored by Soapy Bubbles Car Wash and Shotts MOT Centre.

It was great to see Jock McEwan and Connar Venters on track for the first time in 2017 but, unfortunately for McEwan, his race ended before it began with mechanical issues so it was Venters who went straight into an early lead.

However, a fast-moving Bryan Wilson from the yellow grade soon overhauled the white-top to take a dominant win ahead of Gary Dean and Andy Grant. Former British Champion Andy Grant looked fast once again this past Saturday in only his second meeting of 2017 and underlined his form with a fantastic win in heat two with Siobhan Martin putting in a great drive from the back of the field for second with Dean on the podium once again in third. The feature final saw McEwan’s mechanical issues strike again but white-top honours were upheld by Connar Venters with a strong drive which saw him leading a substantial portion of the race before the higher graded drivers caught him.

Wilson eventually went into the lead and dragged John Venters through with him but John Venters wasn’t able to overtake the flying Nova of Wilson who held on for his second win of the night ahead of John Venters and Andy Grant to round off a great night of Stock Rod action.

The final event on track was the one that many had come to see and it did not disappoint as Caravan Carnage 2017 came to HRP Lochgelly Raceway! Five brave souls in the form of Neil Naismith, Kevin McIntyre, Jordan Cassie, Bobby Gold and James Paton took to the track in their cars towing stripped-out fiberglass caravans behind them and it didn’t take long for the chaos to begin as Cassie and Gold flung their cars into the corners while Naismith’s car decided to move rather more slowly which proved too tempting for Kevin McIntyre who thundered into the Naismith caravan in turn four while Cassie and Gold both lost their mobile homes but continued to circulate the track with Cassie driving straight through one of the abandoned caravans to the delight of the crowd. The Demolition Derby officially ended when James Paton was the final driver to still have some of his caravan in tow but Cassie and Gold continued to entertain as they held their own DD which culminated in a massive head-on to bring an end to a brilliant night of entertainment!!!

The next slice of stock car action at HRP Lochgelly Raceway is this FRIDAY AUGUST 18 and features the Superstox, ProStocks, Ministox and Ninja Karts in a cracking four formula event from 6:45pm.